Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Competition and Markets Authority

baroness quin: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the case for providing extra resources to the Competition and Markets Authority as a result of the UK no longer being a member of the EU.

lord henley: At the Autumn Budget 2017, my rt. hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer committed £3 billion over the next two financial years to helping departments, including the CMA, and the devolved administrations to prepare for our exit from the EU. As part of the Spring Statement 2018, my rt. hon. Friend the Chief Secretary to the Treasury announced that the CMA has been allocated an additional £23.6m in 2018-2019 to prepare for EU exit.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Gulf Strategy Unit

lord scriven: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by the Minister for the Cabinet Office on 12 October 2017 (HC8077), what funding was allocated to each line of the budget for the Gulf Strategy Integrated Delivery Team for 2017–18.

lord ahmad of wimbledon: The budget for the Integrated Delivery Team in financial year 2017/2018 was £850,000. As the team comprises six members of staff, we are unable to release specific details of the breakdown of the budget allocation in order to abide by data protection regulations.

William, Duke of Cambridge: Visits Abroad

baroness tonge: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the contribution of the visitby the Duke of Cambridge to the Middle East to achieving peace between Palestine and Israel.

lord ahmad of wimbledon: All official Royal Visits are undertaken at the request of Her Majesty’s Government and in support of UK objectives. The British Government remains committed to a just and lasting settlement which delivers peace for both Israelis and Palestinians.

Nigeria: Genocide

lord alton of liverpool: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment, if any, they have made of the decision of the Nigerian House of Representatives on 4 July to declare recent killings in Plateau State to be a genocide and to direct the federal government to establish orphanages in areas affected by recent killings.

lord ahmad of wimbledon: These clashes continue to have a devastating impact on the affected communities, as the proposal for additional orphanages shows. It is UK policy that any determination on whether genocide has occurred is a matter for competent judicial bodies, rather than for governments. The UK is fully committed to the principle that there must be no impunity for the most serious international crimes. As party to the International Criminal Court and the Geneva Conventions we continue to voice our support for this principle and for the work of the International Criminal Court and the international tribunals to tackle impunity for these crimes.

Cabinet Office

Life Peers: Gender Recognition

baroness jones of moulsecoomb: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the Gender Recognition Act 2004 on appointments to the House of Lords; what title a non-binary person, who does not identify as a man or woman, would have to take upon appointment to the House of Lords; and whether they intend to legislate to create gender neutral peerages.

lord young of cookham: The style and titles of a peerage are determined by letters patent. Although based on traditional forms, these are adapted to reflect the individual circumstances of the person on whom the peerage is conferred.No assessment of impact of the Gender Recognition Act on appointments to the House of Lords has been made. The Government does not have any plans to introduce gender neutral titles for peers or members of the House of Lords at the present time.

Impact Assessments

lord watson of invergowrie: To ask Her Majesty's Government what criteria are employed by departments when deciding whether or not to undertake an impact assessment on (1) primary egislation, (2) secondary legislation, and (3) other new policies.

lord young of cookham: The Cabinet Office’s Guide to Making Legislation sets out that an impact assessment is generally required for any primary legislation that is of a regulatory nature that affects the private sector and/or civil society organisation or public services. Guidance for government departments on undertaking these regulatory impact assessments is published online: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/better-regulation-framework This covers policies that have a regulatory impact on businesses or civil society organisations. The better regulation framework requires departments to produce a regulatory impact assessment if the annual net impacts of a measure are greater than £5 million a year. Where a policy does not have a regulatory impact over £5 million a year, departments should still consider undertaking an impact assessment in order to support Parliamentary scrutiny. The Chief Analyst in each department is responsible for providing direction on the production of these impact assessments. Where an impact assessment is not produced, Departments must still develop appropriate analysis to inform policy development and decision-making.

Department of Health and Social Care

Foetal Alcohol Syndrome

baroness gardner of parkes: To ask Her Majesty's Government how manypatients withfoetal alcohol spectrum disorders are receiving treatment on the NHS.

baroness gardner of parkes: To ask Her Majesty's Government what information is provided to women to try to prevent foetal alcohol spectrum disorders.

baroness gardner of parkes: To ask Her Majesty's Government what support is available to parents or adopters of children withfoetal alcohol spectrum disorders.

lord o'shaughnessy: Information on numbers of patients with foetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) receiving treatment on the National Health Service is not collected centrally.The United Kingdom Chief Medical Officers’ low risk drinking guidelines advise women who are pregnant or think they could become pregnant that the safest approach is not to drink alcohol at all, to reduce risks to the baby to a minimum.As part of the Maternity Transformation Programme, Public Health England (PHE) is leading work to provide prevention-focused leadership to support a reduction in the proportion of women drinking alcohol during pregnancy. Midwives and health visitors also have a role in providing clear, consistent advice and early identification and support. Additionally PHE’s Start4Life programme also provides online information on the impact of drinking alcohol during pregnancy, including the risk of FASD.The Department for Education through the Adoption Support Fund has made funding available to local authorities to support adopted children with a range of specialist assessments and therapy to treat a variety of conditions. This includes FASD.

NHS: Drugs

lord smith of finsbury: To ask Her Majesty's Government what arrangements they are seeking to put in place following Brexit to ensure the timely availability of medicines manufactured in EU countries to patients in the UK.

lord o'shaughnessy: The Government is fully aware of the importance of medicines to patients in the United Kingdom and is considering the implications of exit from the European Union on the supply of pharmaceuticals as a high priority. The Department is working closely with others across Government to assess the impact of leaving the EU on the supply chain for all medicines and medical radioisotopes used in the National Health Service and to minimise any risk of disruption.

Social Services: Minimum Wage

baroness hollins: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of any potential threat to the viability of social care providers caused by the Employment Appeal Tribunal ruling on backdating sleep-in pay.

baroness hollins: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment, if any, they have made of the estimate, produced by Mencap, that the Employment Appeal Tribunal decision to backdate pay for sleep-in carers will lead to a funding shortfall of £400 million for care organisations.

lord o'shaughnessy: The Government recognises the pressure that sleep-in back pay liabilities are placing on providers of social care, and is exploring options to minimise any impact on the sector. Any intervention to support the sector would need to be proportionate and necessary.The Government commissioned market analysis to assess the impact of sleep-ins back pay liabilities across the social care sector. This work forms part of the evidence base that is being used to assess options and is subject to further analysis and refinement. The Department has committed to sharing a summary of the analysis at the appropriate time.

Department for International Development

Burma: Refugees

baroness cox: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to provide humanitarian aid to any refugees forced to return to Chin State,Myanmar, from Malaysia and other countries.

lord bates: The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) announced on 13 June 2018 that it will begin individual assessments of Chin refugees in Malaysia and other countries to determine whether they continue to have international protection needs. The UK government does not currently assess that Chin refugees in Malaysia and other countries are at risk of forcible return to Burma and will continue to monitor the situation.

Syria: Humanitarian Aid

lord truscott: To ask Her Majesty's Government what proportion of UK humanitarian aid to Syria has beendelivered to areas controlled by the Assad regime or its allies.

lord bates: DFID’s focus in Syria is on helping those most acutely in need, and we have extensive controls in place to ensure that UK aid does not benefit the Assad regime. In 2017/2018, our partners operating from Damascus delivered 31% of DFID’s spending in Syria. The majority of that aid was delivered to those most in need living in areas controlled by the Assad regime. A small proportion was also delivered from Damascus to hard-to-reach and besieged areas held by the opposition. The remainder was delivered by agencies working cross-border from Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraq into areas not controlled by the Assad regime, and on monitoring and evaluation activities.

EU Aid

lord taylor of warwick: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the European Commission’s new disclaimer for aid contracts, which states that if the UK withdraws from the EU without concluding a withdrawal agreement that ensures that UK applicants continue to be eligible, then UK charities will cease to receive EU funding.

lord bates: We are clear that this disclaimer must be removed by the European Commission. As it stands, they are hindering British aid organisations’ ability to deliver the common goal of alleviating poverty, which would hit the world’s poorest people hardest.

Department for Education

Family Drug and Alcohol Court

the earl of listowel: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many families have graduated successfully from a Family Drug and Alcohol Court.

the earl of listowel: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many children have been retained by their parents following their parents' graduation from a Family Drug and Alcohol Court.

the earl of listowel: To ask Her Majesty's Government why the Family Drug and Alcohol Court National Unit is closing in September.

the earl of listowel: To ask Her Majesty's Government how much it costs to fund the Family Drug and Alcohol Court National Unit for a year; and what is their estimate of the financial savings to local authorities from a Family Drug and Alcohol Court.

the earl of listowel: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to prevent the closure of the Family Drug and Alcohol Court National Unit.

lord agnew of oulton: Data relating to the number of families who have graduated successfully from a Family Drug and Alcohol Court (FDAC) or the number of children retained by their parents following their parents’ graduation from an FDAC is collected and retained by local authorities who are responsible for setting up, managing and supporting local FDACs around the country. This is part of their child protection and care proceedings work. The government does not collect such data.Similarly, it is for local authorities to consider what savings may be made from setting up an FDAC in the context of their overall spending plans. Equally, it is for local authorities to monitor this as they make future decisions about spending. The savings that local authorities may make would vary depending on a number of factors and local circumstances. Local FDAC services, and other innovative models similar to FDAC, will continue to be funded by those local areas who choose to establish or commission these services locally.In the period 2015 to 2016, the government provided funding to the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust to establish the FDAC National Unit. Funding for the FDAC National Unit was originally provided on the basis that it would expand the FDAC model to new areas and to help the National Unit to be self-sustaining. Unfortunately, this has proved challenging, despite considerable effort and investment by both the government and the NHS trust.We have extended funding for the FDAC National Unit four times since the period 2015 to 2016. The level of funding has varied from year to year, depending on the specific elements of work being commissioned. Most recently, we committed to providing funding to the trust for the period to the end of September 2018 to support its application to the government’s Life Chances Fund (LCF). The trust’s application to the LCF had two aims. The first aim was to develop a social impact bond model of funding for local FDACs. The second aim was to develop a sustainable way to fund the FDAC National Unit. Unfortunately, the trust recently decided to withdraw their application to the LCF. We understand that this means that the trust is considering the future of the FDAC National Unit, including its potential closure. Officials are working with the trust to ensure that the impact of the FDAC National Unit’s potential closure on local sites is minimised and that any resources developed by the FDAC National Unit remain accessible to the trust and others interested in the FDAC model in the future.The government is committed to finding effective approaches to spreading innovative evidence-based models of practice to local areas.

Children in Care: Per Capita Costs

the earl of listowel: To ask Her Majesty's Government how much it costs to maintain a child in local authority care for a year.

lord agnew of oulton: The annual cost to maintain a child in local authority care in the period 2016 to 2017 was £178,360[1] for residential care and £29,900 for fostering services. [1]The results are based on unit costs included in the Local Authority Interactive Tool (LAIT) Department for Education, GOV.UK. Last updated on 6 June 2018. Accessed from: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-authority-interactive-tool-lait.The figures in the LAIT are recorded as weekly. For the annual cost, the methodology simply involved multiplying the figures by 52 weeks.Please note that the original LAIT figures were rounded to the nearest £5, so actual annual costs may vary slightly. For the weekly fostering services that were originally included in the LAIT, the calculation was based on the section 251 Outturn data. This records the total spend (gross) on fostering services. This figure was then divided by the number of children in fostering placements as of 31 March 2017, which was published in the ‘Children Looked After in England data, SFR50’. This figure was then divided by 365 days to give a daily cost. It was then multiplied by seven to give the weekly cost. For the calculation of weekly residential care, the LAIT also referred to the section 251 for total spend on residential care. This figure was then divided by the number of days that residential care was provided for children nationally, which is collected as part of the Children Looked after return. This figure was then multiplied by seven for the weekly cost. Section 251 documents, Education Funding Agency and Education and Skills Funding Agency. Accessed from: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/section-251-materials.‘Children looked after in England including adoption: 2016 to 2017’, Department for Education. Accessed from:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2016-to-2017.‘Children Looked after return SSDA903’, Department for Education. Accessed from: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/children-looked-after-return-2016-to-2017-guide.

Schools: Accountability

lord watson of invergowrie: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to review the accountability arrangements of state-funded schools.

lord agnew of oulton: My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State announced, on 4 May, the attached new set of principles for a clearer and simpler accountability system. These can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/principles-for-a-clear-and-simple-school-accountability-system. It made clear that we will only mandate academy conversion, leadership change or re-brokerage of a school on grounds of educational underperformance if Ofsted has judged it as inadequate. This change has already taken effect. Regional Schools Commissioners will not contact academy trusts or local authorities at school level on educational performance grounds to discuss the support they need unless a school triggers this through their Ofsted inspection. In the autumn, the department will be consulting on a transparent and objective way to identify schools that are underperforming and would benefit from an offer of support. 



Principles_for_accountability_sytem
(PDF Document, 141.79 KB)

Ministry of Justice

Prisoners on Remand: West Midlands

lord lisvane: To ask Her Majesty's Government what account they took of (1) time, (2) travel, and (3) cost implications for defendants, solicitors and administrative staff when deciding to relocate all remand cases from the West Mercia Police area to Kidderminster.

lord keen of elie: The consultation for the proposed implementation of the centralised remand court began on 28th June 2017 and ended on 23rd August 2017.A total of 62 responses were received from various bodies including defence solicitors, Magistrates, partner agencies and two Members of Parliament.Prior to the consultation being published; the proposal to centralise the remand court was discussed at Local Criminal Justice Boards (LCJBs) which are attended by all local partner agencies.Following the public consultation that ran between June and August 2017, the local Judicial Business Group (JBG) decided to centralise hearings for all those defendants held in custody by the police for new offences or arrested on warrant for failing to appear at court.The centralisation of these custody case hearings was principally to allow the more flexible listing of cases, to improve efficiency for victims and witnesses and to provide earlier trial dates. Trial performance information demonstrated that, prior to the new arrangements, victims and witnesses in West Mercia faced significant delays in coming to trialAs a result of the listing changes introduced, HMCTS can now provide earlier trial dates serving the needs of victims and witnesses better.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Housing: Planning Permission

the lord bishop of st albans: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to develop local-connection criteria for the proposed Entry Level Exception Site policy in the draft National Planning Policy Framework.

the lord bishop of st albans: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the location of the proposed Entry Level Exception Sites in the draft National Planning Policy Framework will be determinedbyassessments of local need .

the lord bishop of st albans: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the proposed Entry Level Exception Site policy in the draft National Planning Policy Framework on land values.

the lord bishop of st albans: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to impose a maximumamount of open market housing allowed in proposals for Entry Level Exception Sites in the draft National Planning Policy Framework.

lord bourne of aberystwyth: The draft National Planning Policy Framework proposal for Entry Level Exception Sites did not include a local connection criterion or a maximum amount of open market housing. The draft Framework set out that a high proportion of the homes on the site would need to be entry-level homes offered for discounted sale or rent. The policy is designed to provide additional housing for first time buyers and renters, where it is needed.This was consulted on as part of the draft National Planning Policy Framework. We are currently considering responses to the consultation and will publish the final National Planning Policy Framework in the summer. The department does not hold information on expected land values of sites brought forward as Entry Level Exception Sites.

Freehold

lord shipley: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether, and to what extent, freeholders breach their statutory obligations to provide leaseholders with accounts they are entitled to receive; and whether they have any plans to take action against freeholders who breach obligations to leaseholders.

lord bourne of aberystwyth: The provision of service charge accounts is a matter between leaseholders and freeholders and so no such assessment has been made. We do, however, believe very strongly that service charges should be transparent, communicated effectively and that there should be a clear route to challenge or redress if things go wrong.Leaseholders are entitled under Section 21 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 to require their landlord to supply them with a written summary of costs which have been incurred in the last complete service year period and the landlord must comply with the request within one month. The Act also entitles leaseholders who have received such a summary to require the landlord to allow them to inspect the documents supporting the summary. The landlord must comply with that request within two months. Failure to comply with these obligations without reasonable excuse is a summary offence punishable with a fine.On 1 April, we published the response to our recent call for evidence on ‘Protecting consumers in the letting and managing agent market’. Here proposals include establishing a working group to consider how fees such as service charges should be presented to consumers and to explore the best means to challenge fees which are unjustified. As part of this work, consideration will also be given to standards around service charges and how to include them in a statutory code of practice.

Council Tax

lord kennedy of southwark: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the rates of council taxes paid by properties in bands A and B compared to properties in the highest bands, and (2) the revaluation of council tax bands.

lord bourne of aberystwyth: Council tax levels are a matter for individual local authorities, although the Government maintains a referendum threshold to allow voters in England the final say over any excessive increases. The amount charged for properties in different bands is determined by the application of ratios to the authority’s band D council tax level. These ratios are set out in Section 5 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992. The Government has no plans to undertake a council tax revaluation.

Housing: Courts

baroness altmann: To ask Her Majesty's Government whenthey expect to publish proposals for a specialist housing court.

baroness altmann: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessmentthey have made of the cost and speed of accessing justice in disputes between tenants and landlords.

baroness altmann: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensurethat social housing providers are covered in any plans for a housing court.

lord bourne of aberystwyth: The Government plans to launch a call for evidence in the Autumn to gather views from the judiciary, landlords and tenants to better understand and improve the experience of people using courts and tribunal services in property cases, including considering the case for a specialist Housing Court.We will gather evidence of the costs and speed of accessing justice and the types of cases to be considered. The Government will review responses to this call for evidence before making any policy decisions.All property agents in England are required to belong to a Government approved redress scheme, allowing their landlords and tenants to access free and impartial dispute resolution. The Government has committed to requiring private landlords to belong to a redress scheme and is considering how to implement this following the consultation, Strengthening consumer redress in the housing sector, which closed in April.

Ministry of Defence

Military Decorations

lord west of spithead: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by Earl Howe on 3 July (HL8946 and HL8947),whether any current 5 star officers who were not in regular service on 29 July 2014 were issued with long service and good conduct medals.

earl howe: Yes.

Armed Forces: Officers

lord west of spithead: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by Earl Howe on 3 July (HL8946 and HL8947),whether officers given 5 star rank after the decision to put that rank in abeyance in the mid-1990s are considered honorary.

earl howe: Yes.

Department for Work and Pensions

Personal Independence Payment: Blood Diseases

lord boateng: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made, in the light of the recent sickle cell andthalassaemia APPG ReportHow did you contract that?, of the suitability of the Personal Independence Payment Form 2 for the assessment of persons living withthalassaemia and sickle cell disease.

baroness buscombe: Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claims are not condition based but are assessed on how a claimant’s long-term disability or health condition affects their day-to-day life and on the majority of days over the period of a year. The PIP2 questionnaire, “How your disability affects you”, is the first step in gathering detailed information about the needs arising from an individual’s health condition or disability. The form has been designed to allow claimants to tell us, in their own words, how their health condition or disability impacts them on a day-to-day basis. The questionnaire has a mixture of tick boxes and free text boxes allowing claimants to add as much or as little detail as they wish. We also ask claimants to send in any additional information or evidence to support their claim. Although the PIP2 is a standard template, we can assure you that it has been carefully designed to capture information on people’s needs regardless of their health condition or disability.

Disadvantaged

baroness stroud: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to release an updated progress report of the indicators included in the Social justice: transforming lives report published in March 2012.

baroness buscombe: The indicators from the Social Justice Outcomes Framework were replaced by the Improving Lives: Helping Workless Families indicators. On 4th April 2017, the Government published Improving Lives: Helping Workless Families which set out a framework for a continued focus on improving children’s long-term outcomes. This included publishing nine national indicators and underlying measures to track progress in tackling the disadvantages that affect families’ and children’s outcomes. The Government has a statutory duty to report data annually to Parliament on two of the nine indicators and made a commitment to publish the latest data on the seven non-statutory indicators each year. The Improving Lives: Helping Workless Families indicators were last updated on 28th March 2018 and can be found in the attached document.



Improving Lives: Helping Workless Families
(PDF Document, 297.23 KB)

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Water Supply

lord trefgarne: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to construct a national water grid.

lord gardiner of kimble: The Government recognises the need to increase the long term security of water supplies. Water transfers can play a strong role in securing resilience, alongside other new infrastructure and the reduction of demand and leakage. The Government made this clear in its strategic policy statement to Ofwat and in the 25 Year Environment Plan. There is already a large quantity of water transferred across the country, giving water companies greater flexibility to meet demand. Water companies have recently consulted on their draft water resource management plans in which further regional transfer schemes are being considered. Interim Parliamentary Under Secretary of State David Rutley made clear the importance of joined up working between regulators and industry to achieve the best solutions for future resilience in his recent letter to the chief executive of Ofwat, the economic regulator. The letter provided the Government’s initial view on the National Infrastructure Commission’s report on water and has been published on GOV.UK.

Pets: Theft

lord allen of kensington: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to make pet theft a specific criminal offence.

lord gardiner of kimble: The theft of a pet is already a criminal offence under the Theft Act 1968, with a maximum penalty of 7 years imprisonment. The independent Sentencing Council updated its guidelines in relation to sentencing for theft offences in February 2016. These guidelines take into account the emotional distress and harm that theft can have on the victim, such as theft of a much loved pet, and accordingly recommends higher penalties for such situations.

Department for Exiting the European Union

Court of Justice of the European Union: Judgements

lord balfe: To ask Her Majesty's Government, following the translation of EU legislation into UK domestic law, what plans they have to ensure that subsequent judgments of theCourt of Justice of the European Union are taken into account in that translated law.

lord callanan: As provided for in the EU (Withdrawal) Act, UK courts and tribunals will no longer be bound by judgments by the Court of Justice of the European Union after we leave the EU. However, section 6(2) of the Act provides that our domestic courts and tribunals can take into account anything done by the EU, the Court of Justice of the European Union, or any other EU entity after we leave the EU, if it is relevant to any matter before them. The Act’s position reflects the same approach UK courts and tribunals currently take to judgments made in other foreign jurisdictions.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Gambling: Children

lord storey: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are takingto protect children from gambling adverts and marketing.

lord ashton of hyde: There are strict controls on the content of all gambling advertisements, including television adverts and online. Gambling operators who advertise in the UK must comply with the advertising codes, which ensure gambling advertising does not target or appeal to children or young people. The Gambling Commission works closely with the Advertising Standards Authority and has recently consulted on expanding the sanctions available if codes are breached. We considered advertising as part of our Review of Gaming Machines and Social Responsibility. The response was published on 17 May. The Review looked at protections around gambling advertising and set out a package of initiatives to strengthen protections further, including forthcoming guidance from the Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP) on protecting children and young people. It also recognised that there were gaps in the evidence available, and proposed measures to fill these, including significant research commissioned by GambleAware into the impact of gambling advertising on children, young people and those vulnerable to harm.